seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Hosea 12:1 [a]1 Ephraim feeds on the wind;
he pursues the east wind all day
and multiplies lies and violence.
He makes a treaty with Assyria
and sends olive oil to Egypt.
2 The Lord has a charge to bring against Judah;
he will punish Jacob[b] according to his ways
and repay him according to his deeds.
3 In the womb he grasped his brother’s heel;
as a man he struggled with God.
4 He struggled with the angel and overcame him;
he wept and begged for his favor.
He found him at Bethel
and talked with him there—
5 the Lord God Almighty,
the Lord is his name!
6 But you must return to your God;
maintain love and justice,
and wait for your God always.
he pursues the east wind all day
and multiplies lies and violence.
He makes a treaty with Assyria
and sends olive oil to Egypt.
2 The Lord has a charge to bring against Judah;
he will punish Jacob[b] according to his ways
and repay him according to his deeds.
3 In the womb he grasped his brother’s heel;
as a man he struggled with God.
4 He struggled with the angel and overcame him;
he wept and begged for his favor.
He found him at Bethel
and talked with him there—
5 the Lord God Almighty,
the Lord is his name!
6 But you must return to your God;
maintain love and justice,
and wait for your God always.
7 The merchant uses dishonest scales
and loves to defraud.
8 Ephraim boasts,
“I am very rich; I have become wealthy.
With all my wealth they will not find in me
any iniquity or sin.”
and loves to defraud.
8 Ephraim boasts,
“I am very rich; I have become wealthy.
With all my wealth they will not find in me
any iniquity or sin.”
9 “I have been the Lord your God
ever since you came out of Egypt;
I will make you live in tents again,
as in the days of your appointed festivals.
10 I spoke to the prophets,
gave them many visions
and told parables through them.”
ever since you came out of Egypt;
I will make you live in tents again,
as in the days of your appointed festivals.
10 I spoke to the prophets,
gave them many visions
and told parables through them.”
11 Is Gilead wicked?
Its people are worthless!
Do they sacrifice bulls in Gilgal?
Their altars will be like piles of stones
on a plowed field.
12 Jacob fled to the country of Aram[c];
Israel served to get a wife,
and to pay for her he tended sheep.
13 The Lord used a prophet to bring Israel up from Egypt,
by a prophet he cared for him.
14 But Ephraim has aroused his bitter anger;
his Lord will leave on him the guilt of his bloodshed
and will repay him for his contempt.
Its people are worthless!
Do they sacrifice bulls in Gilgal?
Their altars will be like piles of stones
on a plowed field.
12 Jacob fled to the country of Aram[c];
Israel served to get a wife,
and to pay for her he tended sheep.
13 The Lord used a prophet to bring Israel up from Egypt,
by a prophet he cared for him.
14 But Ephraim has aroused his bitter anger;
his Lord will leave on him the guilt of his bloodshed
and will repay him for his contempt.
a. Hosea 12:1 In Hebrew texts 12:1-14 is numbered 12:2-15.
b. Hosea 12:2 Jacob means he grasps the heel, a Hebrew idiom for he takes advantage of or he deceives.
c. Hosea 12:12 That is, Northwest Mesopotamia
My grandmother and I are named after a woman in the Bible. Rebekah [or Rebecca now] had a horrible time getting pregnant. But when she did.... she had twins. My grandmother had twins..... my great grandmother had twins too...... but alas.... it ended with my grandmother..... but the name went on down the family. I am my grandmother's oldest granddaughter and I am named Rebecca as she was. The reason I'm bringing Rebekah and my grandmother and my twin grandfather and twin aunt and uncle.... is Hosea brings up the twins in these verses.
Rebekah had a horrible time getting pregnant.... and being pregnant... I know what it feels like to have one bouncing baby in the tummy..... the Bible says Rebekah's babies fought. The fight didn't end when they were born. Jacob the second one born..... tried to be first born.... then he bought what being first born brought by selling a stew to his brother Esau for his birthright. Then.... when his father, Isaac [he's the one Abraham almost sacrificed] was dying, Jacob and Rebekah pulled off a scheme that robbed Esau of his blessing as well. Jacob ran after that..... and hid for years..... he worked as a shepherd and earned a wife. Her name was Rachel. Rachel was Joseph's mother. This is the Joseph who was sold into slavery by his brother [coat of many colors] and became a leader in Egypt second only to pharaoh. It was Isaac's son, Joseph's father, Esau's brother.... whom God renamed Israel.
So now.... this is from the easy English site.
God promised to keep Israel safe . But Israel looked to other countries so that she could be safe. The Hebrew language uses the word ‘wind’. This means something that has no value (see Ecclesiastes 1:6, 14). Israel looked to Assyria and Egypt. The olive oil was a gift to Egypt. But these plans did not mean anything.
God wants to bring both Israel and Judah to a court . Then God will hear about the bad things that the two countries have done. Here Hosea goes back to the time of Genesis. Israel is now not like the country that it used to be at that time. But God has plans to bless Israel too.
God remembers three important moments in Jacob’s life.
· His birth.
· God speaking at Bethel.
· The struggle at Peniel.
Jacob was the ancestor of Israel. The story of Jacob’s name comes from Genesis 25:21-26. God told people about Jacob before Jacob was born. God said what would happen when Jacob was inside his mother. Jacob’s struggle with God was another important part of Israel’s past (Genesis 32:22-31). This story shows that Israel could still receive a blessing from God. They only needed to call to him. God gave Jacob another name - Israel. But God’s name is more important. The things that he wants for Israel are much more important, too.
In Genesis, the story says that Jacob fought with a man (verse 4). But it is clear that it was an angel. It does not say that Jacob cried in the Genesis story. We learn this here. Genesis 35:1-10 tells us how Jacob met God at Bethel. God tells Jacob about the change of name again. Bethel was a place where Israel worshipped idols.
Hosea wants to bring the story of Jacob and Israel together. The new name for Jacob was part of a new plan for Israel. God was the God of both Jacob and Israel. Israel is nothing without God.
But it continues to be important to obey God. It will help Israel. The Hebrew word for ‘business people’ is Canaan. The people of Canaan were often false in their ways. Hosea says that Israel is worse than Canaan. The business people wanted people to get less than they should. Amos says the same thing (Amos 8:4-6). Israel was not fair to poor people. Israel puts her hope in her money. God told Israel that she should not be proud about her money (Deuteronomy 8:17-19). But it was not possible to pay money to God to take away their guilt. Their money has no worth. It is not enough to make God happy. Israel did not become powerful on her own. God began the history of Israel. God will take away their homes and they will have no money again. God is speaking a word of judgement. The ‘special days’ might include a meal called the Meal of Huts (see Leviticus 23:39). This meal was a time for the people to remember their journey in the desert.
In verse 11, Hosea is perhaps thinking of a murder in Gilead. The city of Gilead was a place where many terrible things happened. It is possible that Assyria had destroyed Gilead at this time. That is why the city would not be worth anything. Gilgal was another place where bad things happened. There was worship of idols in Gilead and Gilgal.
Jacob ran away from Esau. The story is in Genesis 28. Jacob received a wife as a payment for his work. His work was keeping sheep. In the same way, Moses looked after the people of Israel. Moses kept these people after they left Egypt. Hosea says that the people have left the person who looked after them (God). God now brings his judgement. Israel has chosen not to listen to God. So, God needs to punish Israel. There is no way that God can forget Israel’s guilt. God must now pay back to Israel because they broke the covenant.
This is from enduringword.com.Ephraim feeds on the wind: The idols and foreign alliances Israel trusts in are useless. They are like trying to feed on the wind.
Clarke on the east wind: “They are not only empty, but dangerous and destructive. The east wind was, and still is, in all countries, a parching, wasting, injurious wind.”
Also they make a covenant with the Assyrians, and oil carried to Egypt: Instead of trusting in the LORD, Israel trusted in deals and payoffs to the surrounding superpowers. It was foolish for them to think that Assyria or Egypt was more powerful or dependable than the LORD was.
Surely I have become rich: Hosea prophesied during a time of great prosperity, but spiritual and moral decadence in Israel. When things are good financially, it’s hard for people to believe that their society is in trouble (in all my labors they shall find in me no iniquity that is sin).
Canaanite in this context probably means “merchant” because the Canaanites at this time were well-known merchants and traders. Clarke says, “Ephraim is as corrupt as those heathenish traffickers were.”
I will again make you dwell in tents: Though Israel enjoyed financial prosperity and fine homes, God’s judgment would bring them into exile and humble tents again. This judgment is certain because God has spoken by the prophets, yet they did not listen.
Their altars shall be heaps in the furrows of the field: Pagan altars were built high and stately to add dignity to the pagan god. When God’s judgment comes, all those altars will be brought low, so the only altars will be the hills made by the furrows of the field.
I've known a lot of people who say "God help me". It rolls off the tongue just like the words "oh poop" roll off the lips of others. Another now famous saying is "I claim the scripture". Somehow thumping a Bible is supposed to make God jump. God wants us to depend on Him..... He isn't a trained pet to jump through any hoop stupid humans wish up. God wants us to know He'll take care of us if we will put down the shiny bobbles, the idols, the molechs and the baals, and come back to Him. Hosea is real plain..... either the descendants of Israel will wise up and count on God.... or their luck would change dramatically and they will be back in tents like they were back in the days of Jacob before he was renamed by God.
So now.... I have a question.... do you think Rebekah's son would ask.... "what's in your wallet?"..... Things have changed since Rebekah was pregnant with twins..... the descendants of Jacob and Esau are still fighting..... but one thing remains the same.... God is still the only Living God.... He doesn't care what's in your wallet.... He wants to know what's in your heart.
